A Washington study linked sleep above 6.5 hours to cognitive decline Most of us worry about not sleeping enough, the bleary mornings, the heavy eyelids, the sense of running on fumes. What almost no one considers is the opposite problem: the idea that getting too much sleep might quietly work …
“I just know that my brain’s not right,” said Carrie Richardson, 44. “And so, I hate it. I just want it to be normal.” At 41, Carrie developed early-onset Alzheimer’s disease. The condition is caused by rare genetic mutations that essentially guarantee a person will develop the disease. Her mother, …
MIT Press We may receive an affiliate commission from anything you buy from this article. In “The Day After Yesterday: Resilience in the Face of Dementia” (MIT Press), photographer Joe Wallace has chronicled the stories of families who have lived with Alzheimer’s. Among them: Carrie Richardson, now 44, whose family …
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spoken of an “existential threat” that he said can destroy the nation. “We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world,” Mr. Kennedy said at a hearing in January before the Senate confirmed him as the secretary of Health and Human …
Getting vaccinated against shingles can reduce the risk of developing dementia, a large new study finds. The results provide some of the strongest evidence yet that some viral infections can have effects on brain function years later and that preventing them can help stave off cognitive decline. The study, published …
Joan Presky worries about dementia. Her mother lived with Alzheimer’s disease for 14 years, the last seven in a memory-care residence, and her maternal grandfather developed dementia, too. “I’m 100 percent convinced that this is in my future,” said Ms. Presky, 70, a retired attorney in Thornton, Colo. Last year, …
Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they age more slowly. And now, a group of researchers reports that they have found a gene in mice that rejuvenates female brains. Humans have the same gene. The discovery suggests a possible way to help both …
One recent evening, Sandra Demontigny tried to write down when she would die. “I sat down in a corner with a candle next to me, just to create my own bubble, to think and to cry a little,” she said. She had reflected on this moment for years, desperately hoped …
Soon, Irene Mekel will need to pick the day she dies. She’s not in any hurry: She quite likes her life, in a trim, airy house in Castricum, a Dutch village by the sea. She has flowers growing in her back garden, and there is a street market nearby where …
The nursery at RiverSpring Residences in the Bronx is a sunny, inviting space outfitted with a bassinet, a crib with a musical mobile, a few toys, bottles, picture books for bedtime reading and a rack of clothing in tiny sizes. The other morning, Wilma Rosa was there trying to soothe …